Southern California

San Francisco Homeless Man Gets $100,000 Reward in Capture of Escaped OC Inmates

Orange County Supervisor Tom Spitzer delivered the check to the homeless man on Thursday.

A San Francisco homeless man received his $100,000 reward Thursday after helping police capture three inmates who escaped a Southern California prison in January.

Matthew Hay-Chapman, 55, recognized escaped inmates Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu and followed them into a McDonald's restaurant. He was one of four people to receive a portion of the $150,000 reward offered in exchange for the prisoners' capture.

Hay-Chapman flagged down officers who were on duty Jan. 30 and reported seeing the two prisoners, who had escaped from a prison in Santa Ana and fled north to San Francisco.

San Francisco police were able to find and capture Nayeri, who was wanted on charges of kidnap and torture, after a brief chase. They then tracked down Tieu, who had been imprisoned on murder charges, as he was hiding in a white van nearby.

Orange County Supervisor Tom Spitzer delivered the check to Hay-Chapman.

"I had a duty to help bring these individuals back into custody," Chapman previously said in a voicemail to Spitzer.

Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 2 that he hoped to use the reward money to help his children and his grandchildren, who are in foster care in Oregon.

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KiMi Robinson and Lori Bentley contributed to this report.

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